TEXAS ABORTION RATE DROPS DUE TO PARENTAL NOTICE
The Texas Legislature passed a law in 2000 requiring minor girls seeking an abortion to first notify their parents of their intention.

A new comprehensive analysis, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that the law has accelerated a drop in abortion rates among teens. The results of the study, reported in The Dallas Morning News (3/9/06), show that the abortion rate among 15-year-olds was 18 percent lower in the three years after the law went into effect than it was two years before. For 16-year-olds, the rate dropped 25 percent, and for 17-year-olds it fell 22 percent.

The state's abortion and birth rates fell for all teenagers studied. For example, the Morning News reports that, among 17-year-olds, the rate dropped from 18.7 to 14.5 abortions per 1000 girls. On average, there were more than 14,600 abortions each year among teenagers in the two years before the law, and about 13,500 after. During that time, births among teens also dropped from 65,055 to 64, 717.

The authors for the Journal said that all of the findings in the study are important because "they are relevant to an assessment of the likely effect of pending legislation to extend such laws."

PRO-LIFE WARRIOR SCHEIDLER PREVAILS
The Supreme Court ruled last month that peaceful pro-life demonstrators cannot be classified as racketeers or organized criminals under provisions of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as claimed by the National Organization for Women (NOW) in the cases of Scheidler v. NOW and Operation Rescue v. NOW.

The legal battle began in 1986, when the National Organization for Women filed a class-action suit challenging tactics used by Chicago's Pro-Life Action Network headed by long-time pro-life leader, Joe Scheidler. A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction against the pro-life protesters after a Chicago jury found in 1998 that demonstrators had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by interfering with clinic operations, menacing doctors, assaulting patients and damaging clinic property.

The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the injunction in a 2003 ruling, but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept it alive. The case finally ended on February 28, 2006, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the opinion. Justice Sam Alito did not participate in the decision. (Associated Press, 2/28/06)

‘CATHOLIC' HOUSE DEMOCRATS FEIGN CONCERN OVER LIFE ISSUES Pro-abortion Rep. Rosa DeLauro has spearheaded a so-called "Statement of Principles," signed by 55 House Democrats who claim membership in the Roman Catholic Church, which is an attempt to have it both ways by appearing to agree with the teachings of the Church on the right to life, while at the same time avoiding any appearance of support for legal protection of the fundamental right to life of innocent unborn babies. The statement talks about "the value of human life," and the "undesirability of abortion," but offers no solution other than promoting alternatives to abortion.

Catholic League president William Donohue commented, "The House Catholic Democrats who signed this statement  and 17 of them did not  are trying to convince the public, and especially Catholics, that one can be a good Catholic and differ with the Catholic Church on abortion." "Perhaps the most convincing evidence that this statement is a sham," said Donohue, is the fact that Rep. Rosa DeLauro is the point person for this effort. There has never been an abortion she couldn't justify, including the killing of an innocent child who is 80% born. Indeed, she previously served as the executive director of EMILY's List, the richest pro-abortion organization in the country. So with her at the helm, the ‘Statement of Principles' is nothing more than a ‘Statement of Politics.' "

This turn of events clearly shows the importance of the right to life cause in the political equation. Liberal, pro-abortion Democrats recognize the growing public support for pro-life public policies and laws, and are desperate to win back traditional Catholic Democrats who switched to the Republican Party to support President Reagan before the 2008 election. It won't work. Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President of Human Life International (HLI) said, "On the eve of Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of the Lenten Season, 'Catholic' House Democrats choose to play the role of Judas in a passion play that ends with the crucifixion of the unborn child."